THE CHIEF Secretary to the Treasury was given a tour of Thornbury Hospital today, following a second last-minute cancellation of Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

David Gauke, who serves in the second most senior financial role in the Treasury after the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was shown around the hospital’s Henderson Ward with Conservative parliamentary candidate Luke Hall, before paying a brief visit to the Health Centre.

During the visit, Mr Gauke and Mr Hall met with Janet Rowse, chief executive of the ward’s health provider Sirona care and health, and Cllrs Matthew Riddle and Toby Savage, the leader and deputy-leader South Gloucestershire Council, to discuss the financials behind the plans to redevelop both sites.

This is the second time in less than a month that Mr Hunt has been unable to make a scheduled visit to the town, with the Treasury minister attending today in his stead.

A spokesman for the Conservative Party said that Mr Hunt's diary had changed last minute, but that he would be absolutely delighted to return and that they hope to reschedule the visit.

Campaigns to modernise the two facilities have had significant movement in the past year, with £100,000 being given to conduct a feasibility survey.

Meanwhile the Henderson Ward is set for a complete redevelopment, with up to 80 new NHS rehabilitation beds and mixed-use care beds being installed.

Earlier this year, Sirona were also awarded £1million from the government for extra care housing on the hospital site, ensuring that a proportion of the units would be available for social rent.

Speaking to the Gazette, the minister said that the potential plans that he had discussed “could be very exciting in terms of the quality service provided here – the integration of health care and social care and addressing the long-term challenges.”

He said: “I know that in terms of looking at the health centre there has been funding to support a business case being developed.

“And after years and years of people wanting to make progress on this site, I am delighted that things seem to be moving very rapidly and with the potential for work to begin at the hospital by Christmas.

He praised Mr Hall for his involvement in the campaign, saying that he was “instrumental in it finally seeing progress.”

Following the visit, Ms Rowse said: "We are always pleased to welcome people from different organisations by arrangement to Thornbury Hospital so they can see for themselves the outstanding care provided by our fabulous staff.

"We are continuing to work with partners on the redevelopment plans but we are not able to share the detail at this current time."

The health centre was the only place in South Gloucestershire to be affected by the ransomware cyber-attack just over a week ago, which incapacitated one of the practices while engineers fought to save the system.

When asked what the government would be doing to ensure no similar attacks occur, Mr Gauke said: “It is important that we invest in technology and that it is up-to-date”, adding that the party’s manifesto has pledged “the most ambitious funding in building and technology the NHS has ever seen.”

Mr Hall said that while the results of the health centre survey were not expected for two more weeks, he was delighted by the government’s interest in the campaign to put the £100,000 forward to assess the business case.

He said: “We thought it was a great opportunity to come down to the health centre so the minister could see the site before the results of the study come forward.

“When we do have a business case model put forward, which will be assessing the options.

“Then there will be a fine tuning of the best option which will take a couple of months.”